The Digital Fix: Television

Prison Break 5.02: Kaniel Outis

With an episode in last weeks Ogygia akin to the terrible run of season three and four, this weeks episode entitled Kaniel Outis written by Paul Scheuring and directed by Maja Vrvilo continues the series that was brought back from the dead.

Last week, Michael blanked Lincoln and C - Note before leaving for his cell even though he was clearly giving them a sign with his palms tattoed with eyes. The tattoos are not referenced at all this week which is peculiar since it was so blatant in terms of shots and showing the viewer what they were trying to convey. Here, Lincoln gets a message from Michael asking him to find the "Sheik Of Light". Sheba, their contact within Yeman agrees to decode the message in exchange for funds to leave the country. The scene plays out but it makes Lincoln look terrible, teasing Sheba with a bundle of notes and making sure she understand what he wants from her.

Sara receives the video message of Michaels reveal and the script works well here as Sara is shocked to see him alive but this is played against a phone call she gets from her husband, where she has to contain her tears while trying to have a regular conversation with her husband. Sara meets up with Kellerman. Kellerman you say? That snake from Season two? Yeah that one! A puzzling character to bring back but a nice one to slot in as you can see after all the twists and turns from Season 2 here he is "just a boring desk clerk" as Kellerman says. Kellerman deduces that Michael is the one who has changed his identity online. He sends Sara footage of Michael killing a CIA official which clearly Sara doesn't believe and matches it as something akin to "what happened to Lincoln".

Humour doesn't really play out much in Prison Break but a small pivotal scene plays out where we get to meet some of Michaels cellmates, one called Ja, who is going through withdrawal, has a phone and he plays videos of Queen on it. Now Queen are great but as Michael says "Queen?". This set's Michaels mind in motion as he barters for use of the phone and a credit card to "buy a pizza", which turns out to be a message to Sara to get out as a "storm is coming".

Lincoln and C-Note visit the suburbs of Yeman, along with Sheba looking for the 'Sheik Of Light' who they have found out is an electrical engineer who has a homosexual son in the same prison as Michael. In the confines of an American TV show we see what it could possibly be like for a neighbourhood to be under the control of ISIL. The very same ISIL we see on the news and honestly, in the much better Homeland. After they have rescued the Sheik Of Light, called Mohammad El-Tunis, he provides a signal to Michaels team that the escape is on. Throughout the episode, an ISIL leader, called Abu Ramal, is threatened to be let out of solitary confinement and when he is, at the episode conclusion, he is seen to be friendly with Michael.

With only nine episodes this season, plot lines have to move quickly and resolved even quicker. With the knowledge that this IS the final season of Prison Break we can only hope storylines get resolved conclusively unlike the god awful Season Four in 2009. Although this particular episode is fairly route one and a bland one, there is a very interesting scene in the middle of the episode where Sara's husband describes 'game theory' where a particular person can manipulate and use people around them to their own needs, clearly this is how Michael plays his game. How well he plays it is for us to see.

Last updated: 04/05/2018 11:42:07

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